If We Ever Meet Again
by MoltresTheAnimeGirl
Summary: This is my Pokemon journey. I used Elise's character, and her Eevee, but the Pokemon team may turn out differently. Reviews would be amazing. Elise and her best friend Johnny are finally travelling together after 3 years apart. When Josh joins them Johnny isn't too happy. Drama and romance galore. Cover art by real Johnny
1. Prologue

Prologue

Hi my name's Elise. I'm thirteen years old and this is the story of my Pokemon journey.

_I was five years old. In Kazan town there really weren't many people. It's not too far from Pallet Town, where the legendary trainer Ash Ketchum comes from. I'm sure most of you have heard of him. He's always been my idol.  
Kazan isn't a big town. There's only one street, basically shaped like a U. Along both outside lanes are rows of houses, nothing very big, some have gardens. Everyone knows everyone. We're all like one family really. On the inner lanes there are two shops, a cafe and a Pokemart, and a Trainer Highschool. The highschool was by far the biggest building in town. Students from all over Kanto came to study there, some even came from Johto. For such a tiny town, we were quite famous._

_I'd been born and raised there, and in my first five years of life nobody new had moved here, other than to board at the school. Until a special day. I was sitting outside my house, watching a Butterfree flitting from one berry plant to the next in my garden. It was sunny and warm, I was perfectly content. Suddenly a truck came rumbling through the gates into the town and parked outside the house next to mine. A boy of about eight jumped out of the passenger's seat of the truck, a funny little blue and white bear in his arms. At first I thought it was a plushie, but suddenly it squirmed and let out a squeak._

_"It must be a Pokemon," I whispered to myself. But it was unlike any Pokemon I had ever seen before. I turned my attention to the boy. He had dark, shaggy hair, brown eyes and looked to be a little taller than myself at the time. He was grinning from ear to ear as a man, who looked like he was his father, jumped out of the driver's seat. _

_"Dad is this gonna be our home forever?" the boy asked, jumping up and down. He looked like he could barely contain his excitement._

_"Yes Johnny it is," the man replied, smiling down at his son. I was curious. New people in our town that weren't boarders at the highschool? This was very rare. I guess the boy had spotted me staring, because he bounded over to me, carrying his Pokemon._

_"Hi there. I'm Johnny, and this my Cubchoo," he said in a rush, holding out the little Pokemon._

_"Cub Cub," it cried, before sneezing. His sneeze instantly froze into an icicle. It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen._

_"Hiya, I'm Elise," I said, standing up and holding my hand out to him like I'd seen grown ups do when they met a new person. He grinned at me and shook my hand enthusiastically._

_"Seeing as we're gonna be neighbours, I guess that means we're gonna be best friends too!" he exclaimed, smiling widely. I couldn't help but smile back. His bubbly personality was infectious. _

"_Yeah, bestest friends forever!" I agreed._

I'm thirteen now, and Johnny is sixteen. For the last three years he's only been home twice. He graduated from Trainer Highschool when he was my age and left with his Cubchoo on a Pokemon journey. I miss him terribly. We still talk on our Pokegear sometimes, but it's not the same. Soon I'll be graduating and going on my own adventure... who knows if I'll ever see him again?


	2. What Hurts The Most

Chapter 1

Elise looked up at the Trainer Highschool with tears in her eyes. After three years of schooling she was going to go out into the world and start her Pokemon journey. She hadn't made many friends, Elise was known as the loner. Except for Johnny...

Elise sighed and turned away from the building. Thinking about her best friend always either filled her with happiness or pain. She hadn't seen him face to face for over a year.

"Elise, sweetie, come inside, we have a surprise for you," her mum called from the front door of their house opposite the highschool. Elise didn't really want to be held up. She wanted to get to Pallet Town as soon as possible to get her starter Pokemon and begin her journey around Kanto. She knew just which starter she wanted to. Charmander, of course. She reluctantly opened the door and entered her small house. Elise's parents were standing in the living room, her father had his hands behind his back and a huge grin on his face.

"What is it?" she asked, looking from her dad to her mum. Elise had inherited her mother's bright red hair and height, standing at only 5'2". Unlike her mother she liked to keep her hair short and spiky. From her Dad she'd inherited bright blue eyes.

"Well, we know you've wanted to get your starter from Professor Oak, but we thought you'd surprise you with this instead," her dad said, holding out a red and white pokeball. Elise's eyes widened with surprise as she took the pokeball gingerly from his hands.

"Go on, open it," Elise's mother said quietly. Elise pushed the silver button and it opened with a flash of white light. A Pokemon appeared in front of her, it was small and dog like, with bushy, brown fur and cream coloured fur at the end of its tail and around its neck.

"Eevee!" it cried, pushing its nose against Elise's leg.

"An Eevee?! You're _joking_!" Elise cried, picking up the small Pokemon and hugging it tight. Her parents smiled at her delighted tone.

"We also got you 5 extra pokeballs and ordered a pokedex from Professor Oak, they're all in your backpack," her mum added. But Elise was barely listening.

"I'm gonna call you Gem. We're going to be best friends..." Elise's voice trailed off, remembering when Johnny had said that to her when they first met. Her parents didn't seem to notice her mood change.

"Why don't you go to the cafe to give your Eevee a treat before you leave?" her mother suggested. Elise was keen to get out of her house, so she picked up her bag, hugged and kissed her parents, then turned and walked straight into the cafe. She ordered poffins for Gem and a coffee for herself. She sat at a booth in the corner, facing away from the door, eyeing the other customers moodily. She just wanted to get out of the town full of memories of her best friend.

_I was nine, Johnny was twelve. We only had another year together before he left for his journey. We sat in the cafe, eating ice creams together. He had his Cubchoo on his lap, who kept stealing licks when Johnny wasn't looking. It was so cute I didn't want to tell him in case he made his Pokemon stop._

_"When you graduate from Trainer Highschool, are you gonna leave?" I asked him timidly. I didn't want to voice what I had been thinking, I was afraid of the answer._

_"Of course I am, Cubchoo and I are gonna go on an adventure. We're gonna conquer the Kanto League together!" he replied confidently. _

_"Cub, Cubchoo!" it cried, trying to lick ice cream off of its nose. My voice dropped to almost a whisper._

_"Do you think I can come with you?" I asked quietly. Johnny turned to me, his infectious grin on his face._

_"Of course you can! Remember? We're gonna be best friends forever!" I smiled widely at him. _

_"Yeah, best friends forever!" I echoed. _

Elise felt tears prickling in the back of her eyes and she swiped the back of her hand across them angrily. _Stupid me, stop crying_, she scolded herself silently. Suddenly she felt a tap on her left knee. _I must be imagining things_, she thought, looking down at the tiny Cubchoo that was clinging happily to her, _it's because I was thinking about Johnny. I'm seeing things_.

"Hey there Elise, long time no see," said a familiar voice.


	3. You and Me

Chapter 2

"Johnny!" Elise squealed, jumping to her feet and throwing herself into the arms of her best friend.

"Are you glad to see me or something?" he asked, amused. Johnny was only a couple of inches taller than Elise, with short, black hair and sparkling brown eyes. He had shadows of facial hair along his jaws and a tiny mustache which he liked to curl because it made him look "fancy". He was wearing a black cap, a navy blue shirt, dark blue jeans and black sneakers. Elise giggled.

"Just a little," she replied, reluctantly pulling away from him and crouching to pick up Cubchoo, who had been pulling on the cuffs of her jeans.

"Hey Cubby, I missed you," she cooed, cuddling the small teddy-like Pokemon.

"Cub Cub!" it cried, snuggling into her neck.

"So I see you have an Eevee now," Johnny commented, smiling down at the Pokemon at Elise's feet.

"Yeah! Gem and your Leafeon can be best friends just like we are!" Elise exclaimed, referring to the grass type Eevee evolution that Johnny had gotten while in the Sinnoh region.

"Yeah they definitely can be," Johnny laughed. I eyed him critically.

"What are you doing home anyway? I thought you were in Sinnoh?" she asked suspiciously. She could have sworn he'd blushed.

"Well I heard you were graduating today... so you know, I thought I'd come to congratulate you," he replied quietly. That's when Elise noticed that his right fist was closed around something. Elise reached out her hands and pried open his fingers. There on his palm lay a looped black cord with a pokeball attached to it.

"You got this... for me?" Elise whispered, looking up into his eyes.

"Of course I did," he murmured, "and look inside the pokeball." Elise took the necklace from him and opened the pokeball. It wasn't a real one. Inside it was a photo of Elise and Johnny, on the day they met, and inscribed on the frame were the words 'bestest friends forever - Johnny and Elise'. Elise felt tears prickling her eyes yet again.

"I love it," she whispered hoarsely. Johnny grinned.

"I knew you would!" he replied. They walked out of the café, their Pokemon at their heels. Elise couldn't stop staring at the necklace.

"So you're gonna start your journey today right?" Johnny asked, following her to the gate leading out of Kazan town. Elise snapped the pokeball shut and put the necklace over her head.

"Yup, Gem and I are gonna travel around Kanto," she agreed, "where are you going now?" She really didn't want him to leave. It was so good to have Johnny back... was he really going to leave again after a few minutes together?

"I was thinking of going to Unova, you know, because that's where Dad caught Cubchoo before he gave him to me." There was an awkward silence. Elise really didn't want to sound so desperate to have him back, but if she didn't speak up now, he'd be gone again for who knows how long?

"Do you _have_ to go to Unova?" Elise whispered. Johnny looked upset at the disappointed expression on Elise's face.

"Well no, I guess not." Elise paused before asking.

"Well... do you think you could come with me instead? We'll be together all the time, just like it used to be," she said hopefully. Johnny grinned again.

"Of course I'll come with you! I just wasn't sure if that was what you wanted." Elise laughed, elated that she'd be back with her best friend.

"Why wouldn't it be? We're best friends, remember?"


	4. Makes Me Wonder

Chapter 3

Pallet Town and Kazan town were separated by a large forest. It would take Elise and Johnny a few hours to reach Pallet. Elise bounced along next to Johnny with Gem at her heels, elated that her best friend was with her again. She talked and talked, telling him all about her last year at the highschool and everything she'd learned. In return he told her the things about his adventures that she hadn't heard yet. He'd travelled alone through each region, which for some reason made Elise very happy, but he was glad to have her company again. Even though he didn't like to voice it, he'd missed Elise more than anyone else while he'd been gone.

_I was thirteen, Elise was ten. It was the day of my graduation from the Trainer Highschool. My bag was packed, I had Cubchoo in my arms and Elise and I were standing at the main gate leading out of Kazan town. Other students were passing us, in groups and alone, excited to either start their Pokemon journeys or return home to their families. Elise was staring at the ground, I was staring at her. Her hair was still long then, her fringe covering her eyes. She cut it the day after I left, and had kept it like that._

_"You promised I could come with you," she whispered hoarsely. She was crying, I could tell, but I knew she didn't want me to know, so I didn't mention it. _

_"Your parents told me you have to stay. You'll be starting highschool in a couple of months, you'll be fine," I said gently, although I wanted her to come just as badly as she did. I had to be strong for her. _

_"I don't want to go if it means you won't be there with me," she sobbed. I put Cubchoo onto the ground next to my feet before wrapping my arms around her. She buried her in head in my chest, not bothering to hide her tears. People were staring as they walked past, but I didn't care. Elise was the only thing that mattered at that moment. _

_"You have your Pokegear. I'll talk to you every day. And I'll come back and visit you as much as I can. I promise," I whispered. I could feel a tear slip down my cheek as I said those words. _

_I kept that promise, I came home whenever possible. It just wasn't often enough._

_I wonder if she'll grow her hair out now_, Johnny thought to himself as he watched his friend chatter away to him. _It doesn't matter, she looks pretty either way, _he could feel his face get hot as he blushed when he realised what he'd just thought, _pretty? No. She's my best friend. I don't think she's pretty..._ he sighed. He didn't even want to admit it to himself, but he did think Elise was pretty. Beautiful even.

"Hey get away from me!" yelled a voice. Johnny snapped out of his thoughts and exchanged a worried look with Elise. They both broke into a run. A few meters ahead they came across a boy who had obviously just fallen over. He had blue hair and matching eyes, which were currently wide with fear. He looked to be a little taller than Johnny and Elise, and was dressed in a blue short, dark denim shorts, deep blue sneakers and a red back pack was on the ground next to him. In front of him was a bee-like Pokemon, with huge stingers on its front legs.

"That's a Beedrill!" Elise cried, "Gem, take it out with Tackle!" Elise's Eevee leaped forward and Tackled the bug type Pokemon. It buzzed angrily at her and jabbed at her with its stingers.

"Cubchoo use Icicle Crash!" Johnny commanded. His Pokemon jumped forward, opened its mouth and released a flurry of icicles, which collided with the Beedrill. It turned and fled.

"We make a great team!" Elise exclaimed delightedly. Johnny couldn't help smiling at her enthusiasm.

"H-hey, thanks for saving me," the blue-haired boy stuttered, collecting his back pack and standing up shakily.

"Hey I know you, you're Josh aren't you? You were in my class at the highschool," Elise said, smiling at him.

"Yeah, and you're Elise, you were one of the best students in the class," Josh said. Elise grinned.

"So are you heading to Pallet to get your starter Pokemon?" she inquired. He nodded.

"Yup, I want a Squirtle!" Elise glanced at Johnny.

"Well why don't you come with us until we get there? Just in case you're ambushed by any more Beedrill," she offered. Josh grinned at her.

"Yeah! That sounds awesome!"

Johnny didn't want to say anything, but he was disappointed. He thought this was gonna be a journey with just him and Elise. He didn't really want another guy interfering.


	5. Fall Apart

Chapter 4

_Why won't this kid shut up?_ Johnny thought to himself. He was walking slightly ahead of Elise and Josh, Cubchoo running to keep up.

"Well I'm originally from Goldenrod, you know, in Johto? My mum sent me to Kazan to study Pokemon at the highschool. I've always wanted a Squirtle as my starter, now I'll finally be able to have one," Josh said, barely pausing to take a breath. Elise was only half listening. She was worried about how quiet Johnny was, he usually only acted like that when he was upset. She smiled at Josh.

"That sounds awesome," she said absently. Gem was bouncing next to Cubchoo, and they were chattering to each other, "Josh I just need to talk to Johnny for a second okay?" She lengthened her strides to catch up before Josh could reply. Johnny felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Johnny are you okay?" Elise asked worriedly. He felt guilty as he saw the expression on her face. He forced a smile.

"Yeah I'm fine, really," he replied. He knew immediately that she could tell he was lying. She always could.

_A couple of years after I moved to Kazan town, Elise and I were playing outside her house. A little boy and his parents were standing outside the highschool, probably to visit someone staying there. The guy was probably a year or two older than me. _

_"What Pokemon do you want to catch first?" Elise asked me. We were discussing our favourite topic, what we were gonna do on our Pokemon journey._

_"Well I think I'll catch an Eevee!" I exclaimed. I'd always wanted an Eevee, "what about you Elise?" She thought hard for a moment, then a grin spread across her face._

_"I want a Charmander. Rawr!" She pulled a face at me._

_"Be careful, you might scare me!" I said, a grin spreading across my face. Even then just being with Elise made me happier than anything else. The boy had probably heard her, as he sauntered up to the fence. He had long green hair and slightly darker eyes. _

_"Are you guys talking about Pokemon?" he enquired. _

_"Yeah!" Elise exclaimed._

_"My favourite Pokemon is Luvdisc, you know why?" he asked mischievously. _

_"Why?" Elise asked. _

_"Because it's the symbol of love, of course!" he responded. Then he leaned forward and kissed Elise on the cheek. I was mad, real mad. _

_"Hey! You leave her alone!" I shouted. And I did something I'd never done before. I punched him in the jaw. _

_"Johnny!" Elise cried. The boy ran, sobbing, back to his parents. I don't know why I did it. I turned and fled to my house._

_Not long after I got into trouble for it, I heard a tapping at my bedroom window. Elise was standing outside. She'd obviously been crying. _

_"Why did you do it Johnny?" she whispered. I was ashamed that my actions had caused her to cry._

_"I was protecting you," I lied. She looked at me with wide eyes._

_"You're lying, I know you are." I just couldn't admit that I'd been jealous, so I closed my window again and lay down on my bed._

"Tell me the truth," Elise said. Johnny turned away from her uncomfortably.

"Just leave me alone Elise," he mumbled. She knew she'd get nothing out of him while he was feeling like this, so she returned to Josh's side.

"Are we almost at Pallet Town do you think?" Josh asked. Elise nodded. They walked for about ten more minutes, before the trees parted, revealing the small town of Pallet. There were a lot more houses than at Kazan Town, streets and streets of them. Elise knew Ash Ketchum had been raised in one of those houses, she just didn't know which one. Dominating the landscape was a large, white, domed building, surrounded with grass and trees. This was Professor Oak's laboratory.

"Yeah let's go!" Josh cried, breaking into a run. Elise and Johnny followed him at a slower pace. Johnny could feel Elise's eyes on him, but he still didn't want to tell her why he was upset. He knew she wouldn't laugh at him, but what if it changed their friendship? It just wasn't worth it...

Elise and Johnny caught up to Josh outside the lab, Josh grinned at them before ringing the doorbell. They waited a few seconds, then an old man in a white lab coat appeared at the door.

"Ah you must be graduates from Kazan Town?" he enquired, eyeing the trio critically.

"Uh no sir. I graduated three years ago," Johnny corrected him. Professor Oak smiled at him.

"Yes, I thought you looked a little older than these two," he said. He looked down at Elise's feet where Gem was sitting.

"She's mine, " Elise said quickly, "Josh is the only one who needs a starter."

"Well come in, follow me," the Professor replied, beckoning them inside. They followed him down a corridor before entering a large, white room, full of beeping machines. In the center was a circular table with a dome over it, inside there were three red and white pokeballs.

"So, Josh is it? Do you know which starter you would like?" Professor Oak asked him. Josh was positively bursting with excitement.

"Yes Professor, I would like Squirtle," he squeaked. The dome opened and Professor Oak reached out and picked up a pokeball before handing it to Josh.

"My very own Squirtle," Josh whispered. The pokeball opened, and a blue and yellow, turtle like Pokemon appeared. It had an orange shell. Elise reached into her back pack and flipped open her black Pokedex.

"Squirtle. This Tiny Turtle Pokémon draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible water attacks with amazing range and accuracy. The blasts can be quite powerful," the Pokedex said in its electronic voice.

"Squirtle Squirt," it said, happily waving its arms.

"He's perfect," Josh breathed, kneeling before his new Pokemon.

"Here's your Pokedex and five pokeballs," Oak said, handing the items to Josh. Elise noticed that Josh's pokedex was green, unlike her own.

"Thank you Professor, I promise to take good care of Squirtle!" Josh said.

"It's no problem at all Josh," Oak answered, "now I'm sure you're all keen to get going. Let me show you out." The trio followed the Professor to the door and said good bye.

"So Josh, now that you've got your Pokemon you won't need to travel with us anymore," Johnny said pointedly. Elise shot her friend a confused look.

"What he means _is_ if you don't want to travel with us anymore you don't have to," Elise said quickly.

"Of course I want to keep travelling with you!" Josh exclaimed.

"Squirtle!" his Pokemon cried. Johnny grimaced. _Just when I thought we were going to get rid of him_, Johnny thought.


	6. Your Eyes Don't Lie

Chapter 5

"I love my new Squirtle, he's the best Squirtle in the world," Josh cooed. Elise, Johnny and Josh were sitting around a fire, created by Johnny's Ninetales. The night was pitch black. They were on Route One, which connected Pallet Town to Viridian City. Johnny had alerted Josh and Elise to the fact that there was a gym in Viridian, but he warned them that it would be best to challenge it last.

"Wish he'd just shut up," Johnny mumbled so that Josh couldn't hear. Elise shot him an angry look, but she had to admit, he was getting a little annoying. Gem was curled up on Elise's lap, asleep. Cubchoo was away from the fire, in Johnny's sleeping bag. Because he was an ice-type Pokemon, he didn't like being too warm.

Elise's head was drooping to one side. She was exhausted from a day full of emotion and desperately needed sleep.

"Elise you should go to sleep," Johnny murmured as her head touched his shoulder. She didn't move, and was soon snoring gently. He smiled tenderly at her.

"You like her." Johnny glared at Josh. It hadn't been a question, it had been a statement.

"Of course I do, she's my best friend," Johnny replied smoothly. He hated that this little twerp had stated what he'd been denying himself for years.

"No you like her like a girlfriend. I've seen the way you look at her. It's so obvious, I'm surprised she hasn't realised it herself," Josh retorted, grinning.

"Shut up, you don't know anything," Johnny growled. In his anger he pushed Elise away roughly. She woke with a start.

"Ouch. What did you do that for?" she cried, turning reproachful eyes on Johnny. Damn it why do I keep hurting her? Johnny thought angrily.

"I'm going for a walk," he muttered. He stood up and slouched off. Elise felt tears fill her eyes.

"He didn't use to be like that. What's changed?" she whispered to herself.

_As soon as Johnny left for his Pokemon journey I went home to my room and cried myself to sleep. I woke up around 2am with my hair completely tangled. I looked in the mirror above my drawers._

_"I look terrible," I mumbled, reaching into the drawer and absently picking up the scissors. Tears spilled down my face again._

_"This is for you Johnny," I whispered. I pulled a section of my hair up, held the scissors open close to my scalp, and snipped it off. I continued to do this until all of my hair was about half an inch long. I hated the way I looked, but who cares? Johnny was gone. My looks were the last thing that mattered._

_The next day I got a call on my Pokegear._

_"Elise, are you okay? I was really worried about you when I left," Johnny said anxiously. I couldn't help smiling. I knew it had only been 24 hours since I'd last seen him, but for the last 2 years I'd never gone that long without at least hearing his voice._

_"I'm okay," I lied. At least over the Pokegear he couldn't see the guilty look on my face. I hated lying to him._

_"That's good," I could hear the relief in his voice, "well I have to go, a trainer just challenged me to a battle. I'll call you later!"_

_"Bye," I whispered. He hung up. I felt more tears fill my eyes. I missed him so badly already. He called me twice a day at first. Then once. Eventually I was lucky to even get a call a week. I knew it wasn't his fault, he was so busy, I just wished he could make more time for me._

"Johnny," Elise whispered, jumping to her feet and running after him with Gem at her heels.

"He better not say anything to her, I'm gonna be so mad... not that it's true anyway, but seriously..." Johnny mumbled angrily to himself. Why was he so mad? He had no idea. What he didn't realise as he was walking, was that he had been followed. Suddenly he heard an angry buzzing behind him.

"Don't tell me that damn Beedrill followed us all this way?!" he yelled, spinning around. Sure enough, the same Bedrill they'd attacked earlier was behind him, and it'd brought two friends along. Johnny reached into his pocket to grab a pokeball, but his hand came out empty. I forgot my Pokemon! he realised with a jolt. The Beedrill advanced on him and he fell back onto the ground.

"Gem use Quick Attack!" came a familiar voice. Elise's Eevee collided with 2 of the Beedrill, knocking them back.

"Now use Tackle!" Elise commanded, appearing out of the darkness, with Cubchoo at her side. Johnny had never seen a more beautiful sight. Gem attacked the third Beedrill. They all looked mad.

"Cubchoo use Blizzard!" Johnny called. Cubchoo jumped forward and summoned a blast of icy wind that it directed at the Beedrill. They were all stung by the sharp icicles, and again turned and fled. Elise dropped to Johnny's side.

"Are you okay? I was so scared," she choked out. Johnny wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, buring his face in her short hair.

"I'm so sorry Elise, I didn't mean to scare you," he whispered. Yet again Elise cried into his chest. It was such a bittersweet moment for them both.


	7. Battlefield

Chapter 6

Johnny woke up to find that while he'd been asleep Elise had dragged her sleeping bag next to his. He still felt terrible for how he'd hurt her. He could see tear tracks on her cheeks. Gem poked her head out of the sleeping bag and growled at him.

"I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to upset her," he murmured. The Eevee gave him another reproachful look before crawling back into the sleeping bag, the tip of her tail barely visible.

"Hey Johnny, want some breakfast?" came a cheerful voice. He looked up to see Josh had started cooking over the fire, his Squirtle dancing around next to him.

"Sure," he grunted, getting out of his sleeping bag. _How can this kid be so happy in the morning?_ Johnny wondered. He definitely wasn't a morning person. Elise turned over and sat up, looking dazed.

"Hey Elise, how are you this morning?" Josh chirped. Johnny glared at him, but Elise smiled.

"I'm good," she replied, climbing out of her sleeping bag. Gem and Cubchoo had both awakened as well and were chattering to each other, Cubchoo was even licking Gem's fur into place.

Soon enough they were on the road again. Josh was talking as usual. Elise wished he wouldn't, she wanted to talk to Johnny.

"Hey Josh, if I beat you in a battle, will you shut up for a bit?" Johnny snapped. Josh just grinned at him.

"Well sure!" he exclaimed. Elise rolled her eyes but said nothing as the boys got into position for their battle.

"Go Squirtle!" Josh's Squirtle ran forward and stood with a determined expression on its face.

"Take him out Leafeon!" Johnny called, throwing a pokeball. A tan, fox-like Pokemon appeared, leaves occasionally sprouting from its body. Elise flipped open her pokedex.

"Leafeon, the Verdant Pokémon. Leafeon is always surrounded by fresh clean air because it uses photosynthesis just like a plant," the pokedex explained. Elise knew that Leafeon had once been an Eevee just like Gem, and had evolved when Johnny battled with it in Eterna Forest while he'd been travelling around Sinnoh.

"Squirtle use Tail Whip!" Josh yelled. His Pokemon dashed forward and hit Leafeon with the side of its tail. She didn't even flinch.

"Use Giga Drain Leafeon," Johnny said calmly. Elise didn't see why Josh was bothering to battle Johnny, Josh's Pokemon barely had any experience while Johnny had had his for a very long time. Leafeon's body glowed green as she shot beams of energy at Squirtle. The beams surrounded the Pokemon and made him also glow green as it drained his energy. Squirtle fell to the ground with a thud.

"That was easy," Johnny said lightly, returning Leafeon to her pokeball, "now you have to be quiet until we get to Viridian." Josh just smiled, before scooping Squirtle into his arms.

"I don't mind losing, at least we tried!" he retorted. Johnny glared at him again. _Man could this kid _get_ any more annoying?_ Elise thought the battle had been unfair. Johnny had known he was going to win, so why did Josh go along with it? It didn't make any sense. _Oh well, at least I have a chance to talk to Johnny now,_ Elise thought, consoling herself.

"So who is the gym leader at Viridian?" Elise asked Johnny curiously.

"His name is Giovanni, he used to be the leader of Team Rocket, but they say he's good now. He specialises in Ground type Pokemon, but it would be best to face him last once you have a team of really strong Pokemon," Johnny explained.

"Hey you! Dude with the red hair!" a voice called. Elise spun around, behind them was a guy with long orange hair and angry red eyes.

"I. Am. A. _Girl_, " Elise replied through clenched teeth.

"Whatever, I don't care whether you're a guy or a girl, I challenge you to a battle!" he yelled.

"Let's get this over with then," Elise called back. The guy threw a pokeball.

"Go, Bulbasaur!" A small, dinosaur-like Pokemon with a bulb on its back appeared. It was blue with green spots and stood on four legs. Elise opened her pokedex.

"Bulbasaur, it bears the seed of a plant on its back from birth. The seed slowly develops. Researchers are unsure whether to classify Bulbasaur as a plant or animal. Bulbasaur are extremely calm and are difficult to capture in the wild."

"Okay well I'll use Gem!" Elise cried. Her Eevee bounded forward and stood her ground in front of the Bulbasaur.

"Use Tackle Bulbasaur!" the other trainer called to his Pokemon.

"Gem, counter it with your own Tackle!" Both Pokemon ran forward at the same time and collided, bouncing back on their feet.

"Gem use Sand-Attack!" Gem turned her back on the opponent and started kicking dirt into its eyes with her back paws.

"Bulba!" it cried out, head shaking from side to side as it tried to see through the veil of dirt in its eyes.

"Quickly, before it can see again, use Quick Attack!" Gem darted towards Bulbasaur so fast that she looked like a brown and cream coloured blur, before hitting it right in the face. It fell over on its back and struggled to get up.

"Now Gem finish it with Tail Whip!"

"Bulbasaur get up!" the other trainer yelled angrily, but it was too late. Gem bounded towards the fallen Pokemon and hit it hard with her tail. He had fainted.

"Man that was so unfair," the guy grumbled, returning Bulbasaur to its pokeball and stalking off angrily.

"You did so well Gem!" Elise cried. Her Eevee jumped into her arms and rubbed its face against hers.

"Great job Elise, you're a really good trainer," Johnny said softly. He'd never seen her smile so wide.


	8. A Thousand Miles

Chapter 7

"Hey look, a Rattatta!" Josh cried. He was right, a purple and white rat-like Pokemon had appeared from beneath a bush. Elise opened her pokedex.

"A Forest Pokémon, Rattata. It likes cheese, nuts, fruits, and Berries. It also comes out into open fields to steal food from stupid travelers." Elise laughed.

"I guess it was hoping to steal some food from us," she commented. The Pokemon was surveying them interestedly.

"Well I'm gonna catch it! Go Squirtle!" Josh cried. Rattatta growled at Josh's Pokemon.

"Squirtle use Tackle!" It jumped forward and collided with the small Pokemon. It retaliated by hitting Squirtle on the side of its face with its tail. Squirtle suddenly opened its mouth and shot a jet of small bubbles at the Rattatta.

"Yay Squirtle learned Bubble!" Josh exclaimed ecstatically. The Rattatta was looking weak.

"Josh throw your pokeball now," Johnny advised. Josh nodded and pulled an empty pokeball out of his back pack.

"Go pokeball!" he shouted, throwing the ball at the Rattatta. It hit the Pokemon and it disappeared into the ball in a flash of red light. The ball shook once, twice, three times...

"Yeah, I caught a Rattatta!" Josh picked up the pokeball containing his new Pokemon and cradled it to his chest.

"Squirtle Squirt!" Squirtle said and Josh hugged him.

"You did great buddy," he praised his Pokemon.

"What an idiot, you do realise that any rookie trainer could capture a Rattatta right? That's not something to be proud of," said a booming voice. The trio looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but they couldn't see anyone.

"Up here numbskulls," the voice taunted. A boy jumped down from the tree above them with a Mankey at his side.

"Don't you dare insult my friend," Elise growled, bristling. The boy laughed.

"Are you even a guy or a girl?" he asked, eyes glittering. Johnny grabbed the back of Elise's shirt before she could lunge forward.

"You know she's a girl, it's pretty obvious," Johnny retorted calmly.

"And who would you be, her boyfriend?" the stranger asked, unimpressed.

"Hardly. Now could you get lost? You're blocking our way to Viridian." Inside Johnny was seething, but he didn't see the point in starting a fight with this kid.

"Not until one of you defeat Mankey and I," the boy said, smirking.

"Cubchoo, use Blizzard," Johnny said. Chubchoo released a blast of icy wind at the trainer and his Pokemon, half freezing them.

"We'll just be going now," Elise said with a grin as Josh laughed.

"That was awesome Johnny," Josh said enthusiastically. Johnny smiled at the kid. Maybe having him around isn't so bad after all, he thought.

"Is that Viridian City?" Elise asked, spotting a few buildings in the distance.

"Looks like it," Johnny responded. They all started jogging, excited to get to the city. There were buildings everywhere. Because Elise hadn't been outside of Kazan Town since she was very young, she wasn't used to seeing so many buildings in one place.

"This is amazing," she whispered, eyes shining. Johnny smiled. He could remember the first time he'd reached Viridian City. He hadn't been quite so fascinated however, because before he had moved to Kazan Town, he'd lived in Celadon City.

"It's pretty big huh?" Josh said conversationally. Because he'd grown up in Jubilife, cities were pretty normal for him.

"We should get to a Pokemon Center, our Pokemon are probably a bit tired and we might as well spend the night here too," Johnny suggested. Elise and Josh both nodded.

"Lead the way," Elise said, grinning.


	9. This Is War

Chapter 8

Elise woke up in her bed beneath Johnny's at the Pokemon Center. It was still slightly dark. She closed her eyes, willing herself to go back to sleep, but after half an hour she got up. Gem poked her head out from under the covers and looked at her trainer curiously.

"I'm just gonna go for a walk Gem," Elise whispered, pulling on her shoes. The Eevee crawled out of the bed and shook herself.

"Eevee," she said softly. Elise smiled down at her.

"Well I could definitely do with some company," she responded softly. She opened the door as quietly as she could and slipped out into the corridor. There were a couple of trainers in the cafeteria, up early to either train or to get ready to face the gym leader. In the corner there was a girl talking to a massive orange and white crab Pokemon. It had huge pincers and looked quite menacing. Elise opened her pokedex curiously.

"Kingler, the evolved form of Krabby. A Pincer Pokémon whose claws can pinch with the power of 10,000 horsepower." The girl had heard Elise's pokedex and looked up at her. She had white-blonde hair and piercing ice blue eyes. She was dressed in a light green tank top and light blue denim shorts with white shoes. When she stood up she was quite a bit taller than Elise, probably a couple of years older too.

"Come to admire my Kingler?" she asked with a warm smile. Elise blushed slightly.

"Sorry, I've just never seen a Pokemon like that before. It's massive," she added.

"Yeah this is Queen, I named her that because it's kinda awkward calling her a _King_ler," she said with a laugh. Elise laughed too.

"So are you getting ready to fight the gym leader?" Elise asked curiously. The girl nodded.

"Queen and I have been training for the last two weeks against other trainers that come here to battle him and I think we're finally ready. Are you?" Elise giggled.

"Oh no, I only started my Pokemon journey a couple of days ago. Gem and I aren't ready to battle a gym leader yet," she indicated her Eevee.

"Wow you started off with an Eevee? I'm so jealous!" she exclaimed, crouching down in front of Gem and examining her enthusiastically.

"Yeah I wanted a Charmander at first, but Mum and Dad surprised me with her and I think she's amazing," Elise gushed.

"She's in really good shape for a Pokemon that you only got a couple of days ago," the girl said, clearly impressed, "I just realised that I haven't introduced myself, I'm Arianna."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Elise."

"So if you're not challenging the gym leader, why are you up so early?" Arianna asked curiously.

"Well I thought I'd go ahead to Route 22 and train a bit with Gem before my friends wake up," Elise explained.

"Oh you're travelling with others? That's so cool! I've been travelling on my own around Kanto and it's not as much fun as having friends around." At that moment a guy came running into the Pokemon Center carrying three pokeballs. His face was pale and he looked upset.

"Nurse Joy! I need you to heal my Pokemon!" he cried. A woman with pink hair and kind eyes came bustling out with a large pink and white Pokemon at her side with a nurse's cap on.

"Chansey and I will have your Pokemon all healed up soon," she said, taking the pokeballs from the upset trainer.

"Chansey Chansey!" the Pokemon at her side chanted.

"Guess he wasn't ready to face the gym leader," Arianna observed sympathetically, "well I'd better go wait my turn, it was really nice to meet you." Elise smiled back at her.

"It was nice to meet you too." Arianna left with Kingler in her wake. Elise hoped that she would win the against the gym leader.

"Well come on Gem," Elise said to her Pokemon. They left the Pokemon Center and turned into Route 22, which leads to the Indigo Plateau, where the Pokemon League is held. They walked along the route quietly for about ten minutes before Elise heard a rustling in the long grass at the edge of the path. Gem twitched her ears curiously. Suddenly a Pokemon burst from the grass. It was pink and resembled a porcupine, with a large horn on its head between two even larger ears. It stood in front of Gem, growling. Elise pulled out her pokedex.

"Nidoran, male. Its horn is larger than the female's and its Horn Attack is quite powerful," the pokedex recited.

"So if this is a male..." Elise pressed a button on her pokedex. Up popped a similar Pokemon, but with a smaller horn and it was blue. It looked distinctly smaller in size also.

"Nidoran, female. Its poison pin is quite powerful for its size, but its horn is smaller than a male's."

"Okay well Gem, hit it with a Sand Attack!" Elise commanded. Gem spun around and kicked dirt from the path into the Nidoran's eyes. It squealed with pain but still jumped forward and started jabbing at Gem with its horn. The Eevee bounced back out of the Nidoran's reach.

"Gem use Tail Whip!" Her Eevee hit the wild Pokemon with her tail and he fell on his back, struggling to get up. Elise dug into her backpack and pulled out a pokeball.

"Go pokeball!" she cried, throwing it at the wild Pokemon. It shook three times and then lay still.

"Yes! I caught a Nidoran! I'm gonna name you Spikes," Elise crowed happily. She couldn't wait to get back to the Pokemon Center to show Johnny her new Pokemon. She picked up Gem and cuddled her.

"You were amazing Gem, I'm so proud to be your trainer," she said happily.

"Eevee!" Gem cried. Elise and Gem returned to the Pokemon Center in Viridian, which was packed with trainers eating breakfast. She soon spotted Josh and Johnny sitting together at a table.

"Hey guys look what I caught," Elise sang, sitting down opposite them. She released Spikes from his pokeball. He didn't look injured any more, just very disgruntled at being kept in a pokeball.

"He doesn't look too happy," Johnny observed. Elise refused to let him get to her.

"He'll be fine once he sees that we can be friends," she retorted confidently.


	10. Safe and Sound

Chapter 9

"Come on Spikes, I'm really not that bad," Elise whined to her male Nidoran.

"Nido," he replied, insolently licking his paw. Johnny and Josh were impatient to get going to Viridian Forest, but Elise refused to go with them until Spikes had finally accepted that they could be friends.

"You know not all Pokemon are going to bond with you just because you capture them, you have to gain their trust sometimes," Johnny explained. Elise sighed.

"Yeah you're right, I just hoped that Spikes would realise that I'm not his enemy," she said wistfully.

"Maybe let him walk around with us for a while?" Josh suggested. Elise giggled.

"We've got Cubchoo, Gem, Squirtle and now Spikes walking with us, we probably look like we're raising a Pokemon army or something," she said, "Spikes you won't run off will you?" The Nidoran turned away from her and hopped a few steps forward in reply. Elise walked forward and picked him up.

"I'll just have to carry you then," she said resignedly. The Nidoran buried his head in the crook of her arm and sat completely still. Johnny watched this exchange between Elise and her Pokemon. He could remember what it felt like when he met his first Pokemon after Cubchoo, a Poliwag.

I was thirteen. Cubchoo and I had been on our journey for about a week already. We were staying at the Pokemon Center in Pewter. I was aware that I might have trouble with battling the gym leader, Brock, because even though Cubchoo knew moves that rock types are weak to, I wasn't sure how strong the gym leader's Pokemon were and whether or not Cubchoo could stand up to both of them.

"Cubchoo we need to go catch another Pokemon," I said to him. He looked up at me, confused.

"Cub?" he said inquiringly.

"Well you see I can have a team of up to six Pokemon with me at anytime, any more I will send to Professor Oak for him to look after, and I don't know if we could defeat all of the gym leaders just with you, you see?" I explained. Cubchoo nodded happily. I had no idea how I was going to find a Pokemon with good typing against Brock's Pokemon, but I had to at least try. I was walking along Route 3 when I heard yelling.

"I don't need you anymore, I have a Staryu," a boy was screaming. At his feet was a small, blue and white tadpole like Pokemon with a black swirl on its stomach. It was a Poliwag, and it was crying because of the boy's harsh words.

"Hey! Don't be so mean to it!" I said angrily. The Poliwag ran over to me and hid behind my leg. The boy was smirking.

"I can say whatever I want to it. It's my Pokemon, or at least it used to be. If you want it so badly then you can have it," he retorted, stalking off. The Poliwag looked up at me with sad eyes.

"It's okay Poliwag, I know you're a great Pokemon," I said kindly. It smiled up at me and hugged my leg, well I assume it was a hug, Poliwag don't have any arms, "do you think you could help me defeat Brock?" It nodded up at me happily.

Cubchoo and Poliwag helped me beat Brock and get my first gym badge a few hours later. Even though Poliwag, who is now a Poliwrath, is staying with Professor Oak, it's still one of my best Pokemon, and friends.

The trio walked into Viridian Forest, Elise struggling to carry Spikes in her arms.

"Damn you are heavy for such a small Pokemon," she muttered. The Nidoran snickered. There were a lot of bug type Pokemon around.

"I want a Weedle!" Josh declared, pointing to a small, brown, caterpillar like Pokemon with a small horn on its head. Elise opened her pokedex with one hand.

"Weedle. The stinger on this Pokémon's head guarantees that any attacker will get the point right where it hurts."

"Go Rattatta!" Josh cried, throwing a pokeball. The rat like Pokemon appeared in a flash of white light.

"Use Quick Attack!" he commanded. The Rattatta darted forward and collided with the Weedle. It struggled on its back for a moment before shooting a Poison Sting at Josh's Pokemon. Rattatta darted sideways and the attack hit Gem instead.

"Eevee!" she cried, falling to her side. She was quivering.

"What's wrong with her?" Elise cried, dropping to her Pokemon's side and letting Nidoran go.

"She's been Poisoned," Johnny explained, a worried expression on his face, "we should've bought some Antidotes." Elise pulled the shaking Eevee into her arms.

"We'll take her to the Pokemon Center," Elise choked out.

"No!" Johnny exclaimed, "if you move it'll make it worse. Josh and I will go back and get some Antidotes from the Pokemart, you wait there." Josh returned his Rattatta to its pokeball, the Weedle had long disappeared, and set off at a jog with Johnny.

"It's okay Gem, everything will be fine," Elise cooed to her Eevee, tears rolling down her face. She hated to see her Pokemon in so much pain. Spikes was looking at her with its head tilted to the side.

"If you want to go you can go," Elise whispered, her eyes still on Gem, "I don't want to force you to be my partner." The Nidoran turned its back on her, hopped a few steps forward, then looked back. Elise was still clinging to Gem, crying into her fur. Spikes turned back and went to Elise's side. It rubbed its head against her leg. She managed a small smile.

"We can be partners?" she asked it. It nodded.

"Nido!" he cried. They sat together until Johnny and Josh had returned with supplies. Johnny knelt next to Gem and sprayed the Antidote where the Weedle's attack had hit her. Slowly she stopped shivering. She looked very weak.

"I was so scared," Elise whispered, turning and burying her head into Johnny's chest.

"She'll be fine, we just need to take her to the Pokemon Center," he said gently. Elise stood up on shaky legs.

"Well what are we waiting for?"


	11. Thanks For The Memories

Chapter 10

"It may take a couple of days to get through Viridian Forest," Johnny warned them as they walked. Spikes had happily returned to his pokeball and Gem was now being carried in Elise's arms. She didn't want to risk Gem getting poisoned again, even though they did have Antidotes with them now.

"I'm so gonna catch a bunch of strong Pokemon here and then I'll beat Elise in a battle and she'll have to do whatever I say for a week," Josh said, grinning at Elise.

"Assuming I agree to battle you _and_ agree to the terms," she responded, amused.

"You couldn't beat Elise anyway, she's a way better trainer than you are," Johnny added. Elise glared at Johnny, but Josh just laughed.

"Yeah you're probably right," he agreed. A small, brown, bird Pokemon landed in front of them. It had pink wings and a lighter underside. Elise opened her pokedex.

"Unlike Pidgey, Spearow has a terrible attitude. It is very wild and will sometimes attack other Pokémon and humans," the pokedex said.

"Go Rattatta!" Josh called, releasing Rattatta from its pokeball. Elise frowned slightly. She'd wanted to battle the Spearow, maybe even catch it. Oh well.

"Use Tackle," Josh commanded. Rattatta jumped forward and hit the Spearow. It looked mad. It dived at the Rattatta and started pecking it over and over with its sharp beak. Josh's Rattatta fainted. The Spearow took to the sky and flew away.

"Oh no Rattatta," Josh cried, scooping his Pokemon into his arms. It opened its eyes.

"Rattatta," it said softly.

"Well that was pathetic," said a girl's voice. Ahead of them was a dark skinned girl with long, black hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a purple shirt, black mini shorts and bright sneakers, along with a leather jacket. She was sitting on the back of a Pokemon. It was deer like, big and light brown with a lighter underside and small pink flowers across its large horns. Elise pointed her pokedex at it.

"Sawsbuck, the Season Pokémon, and the evolved form of Deerling. The plants on Sawsbuck's horns change depending on the time of year, and people often use them to measure the passing of the seasons."

"Hold on, that's not a normal Sawsbuck, they're usually darker than that," Johnny said, frowning. The girl laughed.

"Well spotted," she said in a warmer tone, "my Sawsbuck happens to be a shiny Sawsbuck." Her Pokemon let out a cry. She swung off of its back and approached the group.

"So we have a little nerdy kid, a midget girl... or are you a boy? I can't quite tell, and a _very_ good looking guy," she observed. She turned to Johnny and smiled alluringly. Elise glared at her.

"I am a _girl_," she said angrily. The dark skinned girl smirked.

"Either way it doesn't matter. So I'm Rain, and you are?" she continued, turning back to Johnny.

"I'm Johnny," he replied. Elise wasn't sure whether he liked this _Rain _or not, but she wished the girl would go away.

"Well _Johnny_ you don't need to continue travelling with these losers, you're more than welcome to travel with me instead," Rain said. Elise was fuming.

"I don't consider Elise a loser, Josh sometimes, but not Elise. She's my best friend," he responded smoothly. Rain pouted.

"Well fine, I'm sure we'll see each other again soon," she said. She turned and mounted her Sawsbuck.

"Oh and Elise, next time we meet, I will beat you," she added. Rain and her Sawsbuck cantered away into the forest.

"Well she seemed pleasant," Johnny said sarcastically. Elise burst out laughing.

"Should we just camp here for the night then?" Josh suggested brightly. The others hadn't noticed, but it was getting quite dark. They set out their sleeping bags and Johnny released his Ninetales after they created a fire pit.

"Use Flamethrower Ninetales," Johnny said. The white fox like Pokemon released a jet of flames at the pile of wood they had collected. Soon Johnny was cooking sausages that they had bought in Viridian over the fire. Elise had let Spikes out of his pokeball to join her and Gem. Josh had let out Rattatta and Squirtle and Johnny had let out all of his Pokemon. In addition to Cubchoo, Leafeon and Ninetales he also had a large purple ghost type Pokemon with glaring red eyes called Gengar.

"Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon. The evolved form of Haunter. Details about this Pokémon are unknown."

He had a turquoise, discus-shaped Pokemon that had a silver cross on its face around red eyes called Metagross.

"Metagross, the Iron Leg Pokémon and the evolved form of Metang. Metagross has four legs and uses many powerful moves."

There was also a dinosaur like Pokemon with a thick, green armour like hide that stood on two legs called Tyranitar.

"Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon. Tyranitar has a heavily armored body that can withstand powerful attacks and is able to crush a mountain with one hand."

"Wow you have a lot of strong Pokemon," Josh said admiringly. Johnny merely grunted in reply. Elise opened the necklace Johnny had given her and stared at the photograph inside. Half of her wished she'd never invited Josh to come with them. She wanted to be alone with Johnny for a while.

_We'd been told never to go into the forest outside Kazan town. But since when had we really listened to our parents? I would've been nine at the time, Johnny twelve. _

_"Okay so get as much food as you need, and bring your sleeping bag, I think that's all we'll need," Johnny had whispered to me, before returning to his own house. I lay in bed, listening for my parents' snores. Finally, around eleven, they fell asleep. I took my back pack and rolled up sleeping bag downstairs. I crept over to the fridge and put some food into my bag. I also had my Vaporeon Pokemon Doll. I slipped out the door and walked towards the gate. There was nothing to hide me from the neighbours' view, if someone saw me I'd be in a lot of trouble. But Johnny really wanted to do this, so I knew I had to try._

_"Elise!" Johnny whispered. He was hiding behind a bush near the gate leading out of Kazan town. I hurried over to him. He had his back pack, a sleeping bag, and Cubchoo with him. We squeezed through the gate, trying not to make any noise, and tip-toed into the forest. _

_"Isn't this exciting?" Johnny said to me, eyes glinting. I managed a weak smile. I was quite terrified, even though I knew nothing could hurt me when Johnny was with me. We walked for a while in the semi-darkness, patches of moonlight were filtering through the trees. It was quite pretty really. Finally we got to the part of the forest where the lake was. What we saw made me breathless. Volbeat and Illumise, dancing across the sky with their tails lit up. The little lights reflected in the water, causing shimmering patterns to dance across the surface. Johnny and I sat there for what felt like hours, watching the beautiful sight. I fell asleep first I think, on Johnny's shoulder, because I woke up like that the next morning. Johnny's arm had been resting over me. I didn't move until he woke up, because I didn't want to waste the moment. _


	12. Want You Back

Chapter 11

"We should be at Pewter soon," Johnny informed them, checking the map on his pokegear. Elise was glad for it, although she wasn't the prissy type, she was dying for a hot shower and a proper bed to sleep in.

"That sounds good," Elise said, reaching up and patting Gem's head, which was poking out of the top of her backpack.

"Cubchoo Cub!" Johnny's Cubchoo cried, dancing around his feet.

"So I assume you're both going to be challenging the gym leader?" Johnny said. Elise nodded but Josh shook his head. Elise and Johnny looked at him, surprised.

"I don't want to battle gym leaders and stuff, I just wanna make friends with Pokemon," Josh explained, shrugging.

"Well that's cool," Elise replied, smiling at him. He smiled back. Squirtle didn't seem too happy about this, however.

"Squirtle Squirt," it said, tugging on Josh's shorts.

"What's wrong Squirtle?" Josh asked worriedly.

"I think Squirtle was looking forward to battling gym leaders," Elise guessed. It nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry that just isn't what I set out to do," Josh explained, kneeling next to his Pokemon.

"Squirtle!" it shouted, slapping him with its tail. Then it turned and ran off into the trees.

"No, Squirtle!" Josh yelled, getting up and running after his Pokemon. Elise and Johnny exchanged worried looks before running after Josh. Josh kept calling out to Squirtle, but obviously it was ignoring him.

"I didn't think Squirtle would be that upset," Elise panted. She wasn't the most atheletic person ever and she was starting to get a stitch. In contast Johnny was running easily, he was barely out of breath.

_I guess that's what happens when you travel around regions for three years_, Elise thought to herself, eyeing Johnny interestedly.

"I guess some Pokemon like to fight more than others, it looks like Squirtle is one of them," Johnny said.

We ran for what felt like forever before we heard a cry in front of us. We reached a clearing where a guy and a girl were standing. The guy was huge, at least six feet tall, with massive muscles, short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. The girl was about five and a half feet tall, she was skinny but menacing, with spiky charcoal grey hair and glittering granite eyes. Squirtle was cowering at their feet as they leered down at him.

"Hey, give me back my Squirtle!" Josh shouted angrily. The pair laughed.

"We're not doin' nothin' do yer Squirtle," the guy said, his voice deep and gravelly, "we was just tellin' him that we needed a water type Pokemon ter help us fight the gym leader and he'd be perfect fer the job." Squirtle looked up them curiously.

"Squirtle you don't have to go with these thugs, come with me!" Josh cried. He was obviously close to tears at the thought of losing his partner.

"Give him back his Squirtle," Elise commanded.

"Oooh look he needs his _girlfriend_ to stick up for him," the girl sneered. Her voice was high pitched and annoying.

"I am not his girlfriend, I am his friend, and I'm telling you to let that Squirtle go," Elise responded.

"Well tell ya what, I'll battle yer for it," the guy said, pulling a pokeball from his belt, "one on one." Elise pulled out a pokeball too.

"You're on," she growled. Elise wondered what kind of massive, scary Pokemon this guy would have, and whether she'd be able to defeat it or not.

"Go, Happiny!" he shouted. Happiny? That didn't sound like a very tough Pokemon. Sure enough, what looked like a miniature Chansey appeared from the pokeball.

"Happiny, the Playhouse Pokémon. It loves round white things. It carries a round stone in its pouch that looks like an Egg, and gives it to people that it likes," Elise's pokedex said. Elise had to hold back giggles. This was the last Pokemon she would've expected him to have.

"Go Spikes!" she managed to say, throwing the pokeball. Spikes appeared in front of Happiny, ready to battle.

"Spikes use Peck!" Elise commanded. The Nidoran bounded forward and aimed its horn at the Happiny.

"Happiny use Sweet Kiss," the guy said. But it was too late, it had been jabbed hard with Spikes' horn. Before Elise could call out another attack Spikes jumped up and used its back legs to kick Happiny twice.

"I think Spikes just learned Double Kick," Johnny observed. Josh had his fists clenched and was watching the battle intensely. The Happiny had fallen backwards and fainted. Elise felt bad for hurting the little Pokemon, but it had to be done so that Josh could get his Squirtle back. The man was fuming.

"Good work Spikes, return!" Elise said. Spikes disappaired into his pokeball.

"Have your stupid Squirtle then," he growled, picking up the Pokemon and throwing it at Josh, who caught him and hugged him tight. The man and girl turned and left, grumbling to each other.

"I'm so glad to have you back Squirtle," Josh whispered.

"Squirtle Squirt Squirtle," it replied quietly, hugging Josh.

"You don't mind if we don't fight gym leaders, do you Squirtle?" he asked worriedly. Squirtle shook its head.

"Well now that that's over, we can get to Pewter," Elise said excitedly.

"To Pewter!" Johnny said, turning around and marching forward. Elise and Josh laughed before following his lead.


	13. Battle Scars

Chapter 12

Elise sat at a table in the Pewter Pokemon Center, fingers wrapped around a cup of coffee. Her eyes were puffy and red from lack of sleep. Johnny and Josh were still asleep in their beds.

"Eevee?" Gem said, resting her head on Elise's lap. Elise smiled down at her Pokemon.

"I'm just nervous about the gym battle," she replied, stroking Gem's head. Spikes looked up from his bowl of food with a reproachful look.

"Nido!" he cried indignantly. Elise laughed.

"Don't worry, I have full confidence in you Spikes," she assured him.

"I see midget girl found her way into Pewter," said a mean voice. Elise turned to see Rain, sitting at a table nearby with a small Pokemon on her lap. It was sort of weasel like, the top half of its fur was blue and the bottom was cream coloured with five red spots on its back. Although Elise was irritated at the older girl's jabs, she opened her pokedex curiously. The picture of the Pokemon on her pokedex had flames erupting from its back.

"Quilava, the Volcano Pokémon. Quilava is the evolved form of Cyndaquil and capable of incredible attacks using the flame on its back."

"Impressive isn't he?" Rain said, smirking. Elise smiled sweetly back at her.

"Yes, he is, it's just tragic that he's stuck with such a vile trainer," she responded. Spikes and Gem snickered.

"Whatever midget I'm ten times the trainer you'll ever be," Rain snarled. Elise laughed before stalking past the girl, Spikes and Gem at her heels. Elise walked down the extensive streets of Pewter City. There were a few shops opening but other than that Elise was one of very few people walking the streets. Elise stopped when she reached the Pewter Gym. It looked like some kind of hut from the neanderthal days, made almost completely out of rocks.

"Even if I had no idea what type of Pokemon Brock trains, it'd be pretty obvious just from the way this gym is made," Elise muttered. She had half a mind just to walk in without Josh and Johnny. At least if she lost they wouldn't be there to witness it. She was feeling queasy and a tad dizzy.

"Pull yourself together Elise," she growled to herself. She reached out to open the door when she heard a shout behind her.

"Elise! You weren't thinking of going in there without us were you?" Josh panted, running towards her with Johnny next to him.

"We're your friends, I thought you'd want us to be there," Johnny added, frowning. Elise smiled sheepishly at them.

"I was just worried I'd lose in front of you both," she admitted. Johnny put his arm around her and squeezed her tight.

"We wouldn't think any less of you if you did lose," he said seriously, "I've lost plenty of matches, they make you stronger." Elise felt a lot better. She grinned up at her friend.

"Thanks Johnny," she said, her voice full of confidence. Josh opened the door for her with a mock bow.

"Ladies first," he said with a grin. _I'm so lucky to have these two as my friends_, she thought to herself as she entered the gym. Just like the outside the arena was covered in rocks. At the other end of the arena a man sat on a chair in semi-darkness.

"So you've come to challenge me have you?" he said, standing up and walking forwards. He was tall, with dark skin and slanted eyes.

"Yes," Elise squeaked. She blushed bright red, embarassed at how nervous she was.

"Well okay, but just because you're a girl you better not think I'll go easy on you," he warned, pulling out a pokeball. He threw it onto the field.

"Go, Onix!" Brock cried. A giant Pokemon that looked like a snake made out of rocks appeared on the field.

"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. It tunnels through the ground which shakes when it raises its thunderous roar. It can move the ground at fifty miles per hour," Elise's pokedex said.

"I'm going to use Spikes!" Elise said. The male Nidoran bounded forward and growled at the opposing Pokemon.

"Onix used Bind," Brock commanded. The rock type Pokemon lashed out with its tail and wrapped it around Spikes, picking the Nidoran up and crushing him with its tail.

"Spikes use Horn Attack!" Elise cried. Spikes immediately started trying to stab Brock's Onix with his horn, but it wasn't doing anything. Brock laughed.

"Onix is made out of rocks, an attack like that isn't going to do any damage," he said. Elise examined the Onix critically. She needed to think of something fast.

"Spikes, use Horn Attack again, but this time aim for the cracks!" she said quickly. Spikes did as he was told and dug his horn into a crack in Onix's body.

"Onix!" it cried, letting Spikes go. He fell onto the arena floor and landed on his feet.

"Now use Double Kick!" Elise commanded. Spikes jumped at Onix and kicked his back feet out, hard. Onix fell backwards.

"Onix use Dig," Brock said quickly. It burrowed its way underground and disappeared from sight.

"Keep on your toes Spikes, don't let him get you," Elise encouraged her Pokemon. They could feel the rumbling of the Pokemon tunneling its way underground.

"Now Onix!" Brock said abruptly. His Pokemon flew out of the dirt and hit Spikes. The Nidoran went flying and hit the wall with a thud.

"Spikes are you okay?" Elise cried, starting to run towards her Pokemon. Spikes stood up valiantly and shook himself off. Elise sighed with relief.

"Alright Spikes, run at Onix and dig your way between two of the rocks," Elise said. He charged at Onix and burrowed between two of the rocks that made up the Pokemon's body.

"Now use Horn Attack over and over!" Elise said. It was obvious that Spikes was causing Brock's Pokemon immense discomfort, because it was flailing everywhere.

"Come on Onix get that Nidoran out!" Brock commanded. Onix was doing its best but it just wasn't working.

"Spikes, finish with a Double Kick!" she cried. Spikes came flying out of the crevice as he kicked out at Brock's Pokemon. The giant Onix fell on its side, knocked out.

"Yay Spikes we did it!" Elise exclaimed, picking up her Nidoran and twirling around with him in her arms. Josh, Johnny and Gem came rushing up to Elise and they all hugged her at once. Cubchoo was dancing around their feet happily.

"That was a great battle Elise, you are a very good trainer," Brock said, approaching her. Everyone else stepped back from Elise, who was smiling at the gym leader.

"Thank you Brock," she said graciously. He held something out to her. Elise opened her hand and accepted the object. He'd given her the Boulder Badge, which was grey and shaped like an Octagon.

"You're going to go far as a trainer," he said to her, watching her eyes sparkle.


	14. What Doesn't Kill You

Chapter 13

"I bet you're real proud of yourself huh?" said a snide voice. The trio were sitting back in the Pewter City Pokemon Center, the boys and their Pokemon were eating with gusto while Elise was examining her Boulder Badge with pride. The voice had come from Rain of course, who was standing behind Elise with a scowl on her face.

"Well of course I am, my Pokemon and I won a gym badge, why wouldn't I be proud?" Elise responded. Spikes glanced up from his bowl of Pokemon food and growled at Rain.

"Where's _your_ Boulder Badge then?" Josh asked with a grin. Rain glared at him.

"I don't battle in gyms, I'm a Coordinator," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What's a Coordinator?" Elise asked, perplexed. Rain laughed scathingly.

"A co-ordinator is someone who raises their Pokemon to compete in Pokemon Contests, rather than battling in gyms," Johnny explained quickly.

"At least Johnny is smart enough to know that," Rain said, smiling alluringly at him. Elise jumped up and glared at the girl.

"Go away, right now," she growled. Rain's confident smirk slipped. It was soon back in place.

"Fine," she said lazily, "but this won't be the last time you see me." She exited the Pokemon Center. Elise hadn't realised that half of the trainers in the room had been watching their exchange.

"C'mon Elise let's get out of here," Johnny muttered, grabbing her wrist with the arm that wasn't wrapped around Cubchoo and leading her out of the Pokemon Center. Elise felt butterflies in her stomach. _If only he'd taken my hand instead,_ she found herself thinking.

_"Hey Elise, Dad is taking me to Pallet Town, you wanna come?" Johnny asked, his dark hair over his eyes and a big grin on his face. _

_"Sure!" I exclaimed excitedly. We climbed onto the back of his Dad's ute and he drove us through the forest to Pallet Town. He drove pretty fast, it was fun feeling the wind whip through our hair and having to yell to be heard. When we got there Johnny and I jumped down from the ute and his father went to see one of his friends. Johnny grabbed my hand with his and we walked down the street together happily. Every time I looked at his fingers entwined with mine, I couldn't help smiling. _

"Johnny don't you think we should buy some more food for us and our Pokemon? Mount Moon is up next and we could be in there a while," Josh warned. Johnny nodded once.

"Elise you stay here, Josh and I will go get supplies," he said curtly. Her eyes widened.

"Why can't I come?" she asked, confused at Johnny's angry tone. His eyes flashed angrily.

"You don't need to run into _her_ again," he said significantly. Elise nodded slowly and sat on the edge of a bench. She hadn't even realised that she'd forgotten to put Spikes back in his pokeball.

"Spikes? Spikes where are you?" she asked, glancing around. Gem had followed her and was now curled up at her feet, but Spikes was nowhere to be seen.

"Spikes? Is that what this thing is called?" Elise looked up to see the same pair from Viridian Forest that had tried to take Josh's Squirtle. The blonde girl was holding Spikes in a net. This time they were both wearing similar clothing, a black uniform with a red R on the front of their shirts.

"That's my Nidoran, you know that," Elise said slowly. Gem was on her feet, fur raised and teeth bared.

"Yes, and we saw how well it did against that gym leader, Brock, so I believe he belongs to us now," the man sneered. His voice was different from when Elise had last met him. His weird way of talking had disappeared.

"Who are you guys?" Elise asked suspiciously.

"I'm Allison, and this is Nate, we are from Team Rocket," the girl said. Elise's eyes widened. She'd heard of Team Rocket before, but she'd thought Ash and his friends had disbanded them years ago. Team Rocket liked to steal rare and powerful Pokemon and use them for crime.

"What would Team Rocket want with Spikes? Nidoran are pretty common," Elise said, perplexed.

"Ah but _your_ Nidoran is special, he's obviously stronger than most Nidoran," Nate said slowly and loudly, as if Elise was stupid.

"Of course he's special, he's my Nidoran," she said proudly.

"No, he's our Nidoran now," Allison responded. She threw a pokeball towards Elise. A black, puppy like Pokemon burst from the pokeball and landed in front of Gem. Elise opened her pokedex.

"Poochyena, the Bite Pokémon. Poochyena is the pre-evolved form of Mightyena. Its biting strength is superior to other Pokémon, and has the endurance to chase opponents down until completely exhausted," it recited. Gem growled at the opposing Pokemon.

"Let's see if you can handle this too," Nate leered, throwing his own pokeball. This Pokemon was also slightly dog like, but it was green with yellow markings.

"Electrike, the Lightning Pokémon. Using the electric charge stored in its fur, it can run faster than the eye can follow."

"Electrike use Quick Attack!" Nate commanded.

"You too Poochyena!" Allison added. Both Pokemon flew at Elise with immense speed. Just before they collided with Elise, Gem jumped in front of her, and slapped them out of the way with her tail. Both of the opposing Pokemon were flung to the side.

"Electrike teach her a lesson, use Spark!" Nate growled. Electrike shot sparks of electric energy at Gem, they crackled around her. Gem flinched but stood her ground. Just as Allison opened her mouth to issue another command Spikes finished gnawing through the net and slipped out to join Gem.

"Damn, looks like we chose the wrong Pokemon to steal," Nate muttered to Allison. Elise grinned.

"Spikes, use Double Kick, Gem use Quick Attack," Elise said. Gem collided with Electrike and Spikes kicked out at Poochyena. Both Pokemon fell back and hit their masters.

"Now I suggest you get out of here while you have the chance," Elise said pleasantly. Allison and Nate returned their Pokemon to their pokeballs and ran off before Elise's Pokemon could attack again.

"Alright Elise, we've got our supplies, are you ready to go?" Johnny asked, appearing at her shoulder. Elise picked up Spikes, hugged him and said with a grin;

"You won't believe what just happened."


	15. Starlight

Chapter 14

The trio stood outside of Mt Moon, Josh and Elise were staring apprehensively at the entrance.

"Do we really have to go in there?" Elise asked, hugging Gem nervously to her chest. Johnny nodded.

"It's the only way to get to Cerulean," he explained. Elise and Josh sighed resignedly.

"Well let's go then," Josh said nervously, him and Squirtle led the way into the dark cave. They walked a few paces and suddenly Elise felt something swoop down on her, she screamed loudly and ducked. Johnny was immediately by her side, grabbing her hand and pulling her into his chest.

"It was just a Zubat, it's okay," he said soothingly. Elise was embarrassed, she didn't usually freak out like that, but she didn't mind being held by Johnny.

"Come on guys, the sooner we're out of this cave the better," Josh said. Johnny let go of Elise but held onto her wrist as they moved through the cave. The occasional Zubat would swoop down on them but other than that the cave was pretty quiet.

Suddenly Gem let out a loud cry and wriggled out of Elise's arms.

"Gem where are you going?" Elise cried, pulling away from Johnny's grip and running after her Pokemon. She could hear Johnny and Josh running after her. Soon enough they came to a small room off of the main cave. It was brighter in here than the rest of the cave and in the center of the room was a pool full of sparkling blue water. Gem was in the corner of the room, digging up a small patch of dirt.

"Gem what is it?" Elise asked, moving closer to the Eevee.

"Eevee Eev!" she said, still digging. Gem put her nose into the hole she had dug and pulled out something shiny. She bounded over to where Elise was kneeling and dropped it into her hand. It was a stone, greyish and shiny.

"Elise... that's a Moon Stone," Johnny said, eyes wide as he knelt next to her.

"What does it do?" Elise asked curiously.

"It can be used to evolve certain Pokemon, such as Nidorino and Nidorina," Josh piped in.

"So when Spikes evolves... I can use this on him to make him evolve again?" Elise asked slowly.

"Yeah you could," Johnny agreed. Elise's face split into a wide grin.

"That would be so cool!" she enthused. She slipped the Moon Stone into a pocket in her backpack and Gem jumped back into her arms. They left the small room and continued through the cave.

"Hey... what's that?" Elise asked, spotting something ahead of them. It looked kind of like a Pokemon.

"Clefairy!" it cried, bouncing closer to them. Up close they could see that it was indeed a Pokemon, it was small and pink with a little curl on top of its head and brown tips on what looked like horns. Elise pointed her pokedex at it.

"Clefairy. This impish Pokémon is friendly and peaceful. It is believed to live inside Mt. Moon, although very few have ever been seen by humans."

"Clefairy are pretty rare you know," Johnny said in wonder. It started waving its little arm in front of the trio. Elise found she was unable to take her eyes off of it.

Suddenly it bounded forward and unzipped Elise's backpack, diving in and emerging with the Moon Stone in its tiny hands.

"Hey! That's mine!" Elise cried indignantly.

"Clefairy!" the Pokemon replied, jumping down and bouncing away. The trio broke into a run after the Pokemon, but it had soon disappeared from sight. Elise skidded to a stop, putting her hands on her knees and breathing deeply. When she had her breath back she turned to the boys.

"Now I won't be able to evolve Spikes into a Nidoking," she said disappointedly. Johnny hugged her.

"It's okay," he murmured, "there's a town in Kanto where three brothers sell evolution stones, we might be able to get a Moon Stone from them." Josh poked Johnny in the back. He turned around, letting Elise go.

"What Josh?" Johnny asked.

"Well, I thought you may want to know that we're at the exit," Josh replied. Johnny and Elise spun around and realised that Josh was right, they were standing right by the exit of Mount Moon.

"Well what are we waiting for? Cerulean here we come," Elise said with a grin.


	16. Dreams and Disasters

Chapter 15

Cerulean wasn't quite as big as the last two cities, but Elise still wasn't quite used to the enormity of it.

"Should we have a rest at the Pokemon Center and you can challenge the gym tomorrow?" Johnny suggested as they wandered along the road. Elise nodded, she was exhausted from the walk through Mount Moon. They entered the massive Pokemon Center, handed their pokeballs to Nurse Joy to have their Pokemon recovered and sat down in the cafeteria.

"At least Rain isn't here," Josh said, grinning. Elise rolled her eyes. What that girl's problem was, she had no idea, but she was merely relieved that they didn't have to face her.

"Hopefully she's gone forever," Elise growled. The boys laughed at the anger in Elise's voice. She stood up, pushing away her plate.

"I'm gonna get some sleep, we'll have to be up early tomorrow to face the gym," she announced.

"We'll bring Spikes and Gem to our room when Nurse Joy has healed them," Josh assured her, reaching for more food.

"Do those boys ever stop eating?" Elise mumbled, turning and walking towards their room. Josh grinned at Johnny.

"I hope I didn't upset her by mentioning Rain," he said.

"Nah, she's okay," Johnny assured him. Nurse Joy bustled over and put a tray with their pokeballs on the table.

"Your Pokemon are in perfect condition," she assured the boys with a smile.

"Thanks Nurse Joy, you're the best," Johnny responded.

"So," Josh said, leaning back in his seat, "you and Elise are pretty close huh?" Johnny nodded.

"We've been best friends for five years now," he answered. Josh grinned.

"And you want to be more than friends." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, and Johnny knew it.

"Believe whatever you like," he said casually. He didn't want Josh saying anything to Elise, the last thing he wanted was their friendship to be ruined if she found out.

"My lips are sealed," Josh said, miming zipping his lips, then he grinned again.

"Are you always this annoying?" Johnny snapped, grabbing his pokeballs and backpack and stalking off to the room.

"Touchy touchy," Josh laughed, grabbing his and Elise's pokeballs before following Johnny.

The next morning Elise woke up long before the boys. She headed out to the back of the Pokemon Center where an arena was painted on the ground with Spikes and Gem.

"So according to Johnny the gym leader here is Misty, she trains water types," Elise explained to her Pokemon, "which means that we don't have an advantage, or a disadvantage, against her."

"It's gonna be tough for you to beat her," said a voice behind her. A boy, probably about Johnny's age, was standing there with a purple, round Pokemon with a white skull and cross bones on its chest, floating next to him. Elise opened her pokedex.

"Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokémon. Koffing hovers in the air, thanks to the poisonous gases it contains, which have a foul odor and can explode," the pokedex recited.

"And I'm Alex," the trainer said, holding out his hand. He was quite tall, with long, orange hair and sparkling green eyes. He was wearing light, colourful clothes.

"I'm Elise, this is Spikes and Gem," she replied, indicating her Nidoran and Eevee.

"Wow, an Eevee, I'm jealous," he said, kneeling next to Gem and stroking her head.

"So you know a lot about Misty then?" Elise asked anxiously. He laughed.

"Of course, I'm her cousin," he answered. Elise's eyes widened.

"You're related to her?" she said, shocked.

"Yep," he said, standing up, "so do you want to battle? You can practice for your gym battle." Elise nodded eagerly. Alex stood at one end of the arena and Elise stood at the other.

"Go Gem!" Elise called out. Her Eevee bounded forward and stood, ready to battle.

"Go Koffing," Alex said, his Pokemon floated forward.

"Koffing Koff," it said, leering at Gem.

"Okay Gem start with a Quick Attack!" Elise decided. Gem flew forward and collided with Alex's Koffing.

"Shake it off Koffing, use Smog," Alex said. His Pokemon released a cloud of purple fog, which it sprayed towards Gem. The Eevee leapt aside and instead the attack enveloped Elise. She swayed on the spot, coughing hard, before falling to her knees and passing out.

"What the hell have you done to her?" shouted Johnny. The boys had woken up and grabbed some breakfast before wandering to the arena to find out where Elise had gone. Johnny ran to where she lay on the ground, Spikes and Gem at her side, and lifted her into his arms. Alex was pale with terror.

"S-she got in the way of Koffing's Smog attack, it wasn't my fault," he said, his voice shaking. Johnny glared at Alex and started to carry Elise towards the Pokemon Center.

"She needs rest," he said firmly. Elise half opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused and she looked like she had a fever.

"Johnny," she whispered weakly, then her eyelids fluttered shut. Johnny carried her through the lobby of the Pokémon Center and into their room, Josh and Alex at his heels.

"You can do something useful and go get Nurse Joy," Johnny snapped, sitting on a chair next to Elise's bed. Alex ran out of the room, willing to do anything to help. Johnny entwined his fingers with Elise's, her breathing was shallow and she looked very pale.

Nurse Joy came running in with Alex.

"Alex told me what happened," the pink-haired nurse said, she had a bottle of liquid which she poured into Elise's open mouth, "this should take care of it, she should be fine in a few hours." The three boys thanked Nurse Joy and settled down on the beds, other than Johnny who stayed on the chair next to Elise's bed.

Josh and Alex had gone to get some lunch, but Johnny refused to leave Elise's side.

"Johnny," she whispered, opening her eyes. They were still hazy and unfocused. He sat closer to her.

"I'm here Elise," he choked out, his throat tight. You better not cry, he thought angrily. He had to be strong.

"Johnny... I - I love you," she whispered and a tear slid down her cheek. He reached out and brushed it away shakily.

"You're sick... you don't know what you're saying," he said miserably. She shook her head and cried out in pain.

"No Johnny... I've loved you... ever since we met," she struggled to say.

"Elise I... love you too," he managed to say. But she'd already passed out again.

Elise awoke a few hours later, perfectly healthy but very upset that she'd missed out on her gym battle. Johnny pulled her aside from the other guys just before they sat down to eat dinner.

"Elise do you... remember anything you said, you know, while you were sick?" he asked nervously. She frowned with concentration.

"No, nothing, but you should probably ignore whatever I said, I was delirious," she answered brightly. She went and sat with Alex and Josh, leaving Johnny feeling very disappointed.


	17. Get Lucky

Chapter 16

"Are you sure you're okay to battle?" Johnny asked Elise worriedly at breakfast. She smiled brightly back at him.

"Yeah, I feel perfectly fine," she assured him. Elise was pumped. She already had one badge and soon she'd hopefully have her second. _Spikes and Gem are so gonna win this for me, _she thought confidently. Though she doubted her abilities as a trainer, Elise trusted her Pokemon completely.

"Nido, Nidoran!" Spikes cried, nudging Elise's leg playfully. She picked her Nidoran up and hugged him.

"We're gonna do great today Spikes, I just know it."

"Come on Elise, we should get there before the rest of the trainers," Josh suggested, standing up. Elise nodded and returned Spikes to his pokeball. Johnny picked up Cubchoo and they headed out of the Pokemon Center towards the gym. It was a huge, dome-shaped building with a giant painting of a Dewgong on the top.

"You ready?" Johnny asked, grinning at Elise. She smiled back.

"You bet!"

"Cub Cub!" Cubchoo cried, reaching out toward Elise. She picked him up and he hugged her.

"He's wishing you good luck," Johnny laughed, taking his Pokemon back from Elise. She took a deep breath and pushed open the doors to the gym. Inside it was a giant aquarium, tanks full of water type Pokemon. Standing to greet them was a girl with bright orange hair and turquoise eyes, dressed in a bikini.

"Hi, I'm Misty," she said with a warm smile, stepping forward to shake hands with Elise, "are you here to challenge me?" Elise nodded.

"Step this way," Misty said, leading her and the boys through the aquarium to a giant pool with stepping-stones in it. Misty stood at one end and Elise stood at the other.

"I'm going to use two Pokemon," she announced, then threw a pokeball towards one of the stepping-stones. Out popped a golden-brown star-shaped Pokemon with a red jewel in its center, held in place by a gold piece. Elise opened her pokedex.

"Staryu. The core of this Water Pokémon shines in a rainbow of seven colors, a core that is valued by some as a type of jewelry." Elise glanced at Gem.

"You wanna go first?" she asked. Gem bounded forward onto a stepping stone.

"Staryu use Water Gun!" Misty commanded. It lowered its top appendage and released a jet of water. It hit Gem square in the chest and she flew backwards. The Eevee skidded along the ground then shook the water from her fur angrily.

"Gem use Quick Attack," Elise said. She flew forward and collided with Misty's Staryu. It hit the wall and jumped up again.

"Rapid Spin, Staryu," Misty cried. The Pokemon started spinning on its side and collided with Gem.

"Eevee!" she cried, flying back and into the water. As she struggled to swim towards the edge, Staryu aimed another Water Gun at her, sending Gem flying onto the edge of the arena.

"Gem are you okay?" Elise cried. The Eevee got to her feet and shook the water from her fur again, causing it to poof up. Misty started to laugh.

"Gem, hit Staryu with another Quick Attack while Misty is laughing," Elise said quickly. Gem flew at Staryu and hit it right in its ruby.

"No, Staryu!" she cried as it hit the ground.

"Now quickly use Tail Whip!" Elise said. Gem smacked Staryu with her tail, causing the ruby to flash.

"Return, Staryu," Misty said, a beam of red light engulfed Staryu and returned it to its pokeball.

"Gem come back," Elise said. The Eevee bounded to Elise's side and she kneeled to hug her Pokemon, "you did great."

"You won't get so lucky this time, go Starmie!" Misty cried, throwing another pokeball. Another star-shaped Pokemon appeared, but this one was violet-coloured with a much bigger jewel, along with another star attached to its back that kept spinning.

"Its central core glows with the seven colors of the rainbow. Some people value the core as a gem," said Elise's pokedex. She pulled out a pokeball.

"I'll use Spikes!" she said, throwing the pokeball. Her Nidoran appeared in a blaze of light, growling at Starmie.

"Starmie use Swift!" Misty commanded. Starmie started to shoot golden stars at Spikes, which collided painfully with his body.

"Spikes use Peck, try to aim for its core," Elise said decisively. Spikes jumped from stone to stone until he reached Starmie, then attacked it with his horn.

"Starmie counter with Water Gun!" It shot a jet of water at Spikes, but he was ready and slipped under it.

"Now use Double Kick!" Spikes jumped up and kicked Starmie's jewel twice, hard. It reeled back, looking drained.

"Starmie, you can't let them win this easily, use Rapid Spin!" Just like Staryu, Starmie jumped into the air and spun towards Spikes, knocking him back. Without Elise's command he started shooting little white needles from his horn at Misty's Starmie.

"Wh - what was that?" Elise asked, stunned.

"I think Spikes just learned Poison Sting!" Josh called from the sidelines. Elise shook her head and returned her focus to the battle.

"In that case, use Poison Sting again Spikes, try to keep aiming for its jewel, that seems to be its weak point," Elise ordered. Spikes leapt towards Starmie and fired a torrent of needles at it, hitting its core. The Pokemon fell backwards and its jewel started flashing just like Staryu's had when it had fainted.

"Return Starmie, you did well," Misty said, Starmie disappeared into its pokeball.

"You did great Spikes!" Elise called happily. But her Nidoran didn't run back to her. It was standing still on one of the stepping-stones.

"Is he okay?" Johnny asked, moving to Elise's side.

"I don't know," she said slowly. Suddenly he started to glow with a bright light.

"What's... is he evolving?" Josh said in wonder. Spikes form started changing, getting bigger. The light faded and a new Pokemon stood in his place. He was still pink, but his horn, ears and the spines on his back had grown, as well as his body in general. He turned towards Elise, and she saw that he now had three claws instead of two, and two fanged teeth pointing out of his mouth.

"Nidorino," he rumbled.

"Nidorino, the Poison Pin Pokémon. The evolved form of the male Nidoran. Its highly developed horn is extremely powerful," Elise's pokedex recited.

"Wow Spikes, you're huge," Elise said in wonder. He bounded across the stepping-stones with surprising agility and rubbed his head happily against her leg.

"Here, I believe I owe you a Cascade badge," Misty said with a smile. Elise had been so focused on Spikes that she had completely forgotten about her badge and hadn't even noticed that Misty was next to her. Elise held out her hand and Misty handed her a blue, raindrop shaped badge.

"We did it guys," Elise said proudly to her Pokemon.


	18. Paint You Wings

Chapter 17

"Two badges down... I honestly can't believe it," Elise said in wonder, staring at her badge case, containing her Boulder and Cascade badges.

"You did really well Elise," Josh said with a smile. Johnny nodded in agreement. They were walking South from Cerulean, towards Vermillion City, where Elise's next gym battle would be.

"It's all going so fast though... it feels like we just started our journey yesterday," she said.

"It's been almost a month since we left," Josh said, counting the days off on his fingers.

Suddenly Josh, who was leading the way, stopped. Squirtle and Elise both bumped into him.

"What's wrong?" Elise asked, moving to stand next to him. He didn't say anything, just indicated ahead. Elise looked and felt her jaw drop. There it was, Bill's lighthouse. It was massive, on the edge of the cliff, with the sea raging beneath it.

"That would be Bill's lighthouse," Johnny observed, standing next to Elise, "Bill's a bit strange, but he's a nice guy, and his Pokemon collection is huge." Elise's face lit up with excitement.

"That's where Ash saw a Dragonite, I remember reading about it," she said, rushing forwards. He grabbed her arm with a laugh.

"Calm down," he said gently. She grinned at him.

"You know me, I'm never calm." The trio and their Pokemon walked up the hill to the massive entrance. Elise knocked on the door. They waited for a few seconds before the door was flung open. There stood Bill, a green haired, dark eyed man dressed in extravagant clothing.

"Welcome, welcome, you trainers must be here to see my Pokemon collection, no?" he said. Elise nodded eagerly.

"Hi Bill, remember me?" Johnny asked warmly. Bill's face seemed to light up even more.

"Johnny my boy! How are you? Your Cubchoo is looking stronger than ever," he observed, kneeling to pat the little bear Pokemon on the head.

"I'm great and yes, we've done a lot of training since you last saw us," he said with a laugh. Bill frowned for a moment.

"Still not evolved then? That's strange," he said, eyeing Johnny, who shrugged.

"Anyway, this is Elise and Josh," Johnny said, moving away from the subject. Bill shook hands with both of them before leading them into his lighthouse.

"That's a fine Eevee you have there Elise," Bill said, examining Gem as she bounded alongside her trainer.

"My parents gave me Gem the day I left for my journey, she's amazing," Elise gushed. Gem jumped into Elise's arms and rubbed her face against her shoulder with affection.

"You two obviously have a strong bond, I'm surprised she hasn't evolved into an Espeon or an Umbreon by now." Elise looked down at Gem.

"I love her the way she is, if she wants to evolve then she will make that decision," she said firmly. They'd entered a room full of computers and machinery.

"You came just in time actually," Bill said, sitting on a chair at the front of the room, "I'm looking for a capable trainer to run an errand for me, I think you could be that trainer Elise." She looked up from the screen she'd been examining in surprise.

"Me? Wow, I'll do what I can I guess, what do you need me to do?" she asked. _I bet he just wants me to deliver a letter or something, yeah, that'll be it_, she thought. He stood up and placed a pokeball in her hand.

"I want you to take him with you, then after you've done the Indigo league, I want you to bring him back so that I can record the results. He's been abused and abandoned before, so it will take a while to gain his trust," Bill explained. Elise's eyes widened.

"Me? Are you sure? Wouldn't Johnny be better for this? He has more experience with Pokemon than I do," she said, unsure.

"No Elise, I'm certain that it's supposed to be you," Bill replied confidently.

"Ooh open the pokeball Elise, I wanna see what Pokemon it is," Josh said excitedly. She pressed the button in the center of the ball and opened with the usual blinding flash of white light. There stood a red-brown, fox-like Pokemon with six fluffy tails.

"Vulpix," it yawned.

"Vulpix, a Fox Pokémon. Its six tails are extremely beautiful. As it evolves, it grows even more tails. Vulpix uses powerful flame attacks," Elise's pokedex said.

"Wow, he's beautiful," Elise whispered, kneeling in front of the Vulpix. It flinched and scrambled backwards, hiding under one of Bill's benches.

"I'd suggest giving him a nickname, it might help you both bond," Bill said. Elise smiled.

"I give all of my Pokemon nicknames," she assured him, "I want to call him Snowflake."

"Snowflake?" Josh snorted, "Vulpix is a fire type Elise, you shouldn't go naming him Snowflake."

"But snowflakes are small and fragile, just like he is, so I'm naming him Snowflake," she said decisively. She reached out her hand to the Vulpix, who pushed himself back against the wall, and stroked his soft fur. Then she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close, continuing to stroke his head. Slowly his body began to relax.

"She's good with Pokemon huh?" Josh said, glancing at the tender expression on Johnny's face as he watched Elise with her new Pokemon.

"Yeah, she's great," he said softly. Josh nudged him and grinned.

"You're so obvious, I'm surprised she hasn't figured it out yet," he said with a laugh. Johnny pushed him back and frowned.

"You tell her and I'll kill you," he growled. There was no point in denying his feelings for Elise, Josh had figured it out long ago. _I bet everyone else had figured it out too_, Johnny thought angrily.

"Oh if you only you knew," Josh said, laughing again, before moving to talk to Bill. _If only I knew what?_ Johnny wondered.


End file.
